Again, we managed to squeak out another issue while being ill with the flu and amidst the overall feeling of disgust with empire parading in our culture. Also, there are so many more stories, films and books that I would love to have included but finances, time, and energy always seems to limit us poor human bi-peds.

Remember: this is not a throw away. Keep it in a safe place where you can turn to it often for contacts, film dates, meetings, advertisements, green businesses, books, laughs and inspiration. This is why I write these Introductions so you can get an immediate smattering or taste of what is in each issue. Also, check out our popular "Shorts" section where readers post short press releases, summaries of articles that you don’t see in the traditional media, among other gems.

We were supposed to be celebrating our 7th anniversary of HopeDance (because 7 is auspicious as well as my favorite number) but we just haven’t been able to get it together. As you can see, people are busy building alternatives to this utter madness. Jason Hoar has quietly been working behind the scenes to build a biodiesel infrastructure and pumping station. Katie Renz our features writer unveils his plans for our local area as well as most of the central coast (see p5). Aspen Rains reports on some interesting tax resistance news; who wants to pay taxes at a time where all the 3money is going to kill people and destroy cultures (p18). Stephen Sherrill has orchestrated a movement where wooden crosses are being placed along a stretch of beach in SBarbara as an anti-war display (p32). Gene Hoffman returns with an article about what has taken place in the past that ought to be taking place in our neighborhoods now (p25). We gave away Conference tickets to "Bioneers" (see Miranda’s moving report on p14) and "Wisdom and Action" (see Sally Carless’ report on p23). Emeritus professor Jack Cedar lays it all out in his "What is Our Oil Doing Under Your Sand?" on p11.

Jane Norton reports on the recent natural building colloquium (p9) and Laurie Guevara-Stone writes about how women are gaining in numbers and strength in the solar energy industry (p10). Ellen M. Mariani, wife of a victim of the 9-11 tragedy, writes an open letter to George W. Bush that is devastating (p16). SLO city folks can now hear Democracy Now! 5 days a week on moon radio (p20). David Weisman reports about the lawsuit to get the NRC to hold full evidentiary hearings before licensing nuclear waste (p21). The controversial eco-affordable housing plan on Bridge Street in SLO has been updated once again (p24). Will Israel’s nuclear whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu be released this year? (p26)

Interested in how to cut down corporate rule where it hurts? Learn more about it from a new book appropriately called "Gangs of America" (p27). As usual we have nearly 20 films (p31) we will be showing in SLO... and others are planned for Isla Vista (p25) and Santa Barbara. We just learned that the Santa Maria Peace Coalition is sponsoring their fi rst film forum on 1/31 at 7pm featuring the excellent film UNCOVERED (349-3796).

A brief comment about the local SLO media: We invited 50 members of the media for a free pre-screening of the above mentioned film UNCOVERED and no one responded, except one person who demanded to get off our list of "seditious and heretical material" (at least he read it!) and then again sent 25 free film media passes to attend the Kissinger/Fidel Castro/Noam Chomsky film festival and no one from the media attended. Hmmm. No wonder I publish HopeDance. By the way, we’ve been having quite successful turnouts to our film gigs; so, if you want to see some provocative documentaries with people and to discuss it with others, check us out.

The front and back covers of this issue represent hope, hope in the children, especially in this new year. The photos come from an excellent book entitled Faces of Hope: Children of a Changing World by Alison Wright (see the review in this issue as well).

May your new year be inspired with radical and hopeful solutions, vigor, enthusiasm, regenerative commitment to personal and political transformation and a joy and humor that outweighs everything else.

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